In ancient times most of the population of China consisted of peasants. The people would work in the fields all day until sunset, and then return to their homes to rest. Some would gather together and listen to the stories of their elders, while others would go and enjoy the cool night air after the heat of the day. Since the people enjoyed the refreshing nights more than the stifling days, they preferred the moon to the sun; that is why the Chinese calendar follows the moon -it is a lunar calendar, as opposed to the West's solar calendar.
Healing and wellbeing
Out in the moonlight, the weary peasants could wind down and relax. And it was then that they became aware of something moving around inside their bodies -something that felt a little like steam. This steam could move up or down, and in different places such as the legs or arms; it also seemed to be related to their breathing and to the mind. The people noted all these various feelings and eventually discovered that each person had a centre, just below the navel, which made the rest of the body warm and strong. They called this centre 'Dantien'.
With continued observation they found that the flow of the steam could make the body warm and was related to the spirit -spirit in the sense of a feeling of wellbeing rather than in the religious sense of the word. Gradually they discovered a network of channels crossing the body, linking the internal organs. Distributed along these channels were certain points which affected the way the steam flowed through the body. Thus energy (Qi) and the system of acupuncture points and channels were discovered, and people found that touching and massaging the points could heal a variety of problems.
Movement and breathing of various kinds to create heat were thus perceived as ways of healing physical ailments from very early times, long before the formulation of medicines. Throughout the centuries Chinese sages and philosophers have written of the beneficial effects of this treatment.
The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine, an ancient text of 722-721 BC which is known in Chinese as the Huangdi Neijing, contains the following passage: “People live in the centre [of China, along the Yellow River]. The area is damp, therefore suffering from tiredness, depression and hot and cold illness [similar to today's ME -myalgic encephalomyelitis or post-viral syndrome] is common. The curing method is Daoyin [breathing techniques] and Angiao [stretching].”
Even earlier than this, about four thousand years ago, the people of this region are known to have danced to rid themselves of damp and arthritis. Dancing made them hot, and the heat expelled the damp and poison from their veins and joints. The movements and breathing patterns of animals were also regarded as valuable examples to follow. In his book Chunway Chu, written around 600 BC and dealing with the subject of breathing,
Zhuang Zi said: 'Breathing techniques can improve metabolism; moving like a bear and a bird will result in longevity.' During the Three Kingdoms Period (from 280-220 BC), a famous Chinese doctor, Hwa Tou, created 'Five Animal Play'. He understood how wild animals lived and how they moved to maintain their bodies' balance and he saw how people, living under the system of society, had lost this natural ability. 'Five Animal Play' was designed to help people relearn this skill in order to cure illness and strengthen the body. Hwa Tou explained that when you raised your arms above your head, as if they were the horns of a deer, it stimulated the Qi circulation of the liver; when you stretched your arms out like a bird spreading its wings, it was good for the heart and relieving tension; rubbing and slapping yourself and moving like a monkey was good for the spleen; stretching your arms out in front of you while exhaling, like a tiger, was good for releasing the tension in the lungs; and bending forwards like the bear was good for the back and the kidneys. Hwa T ou used the names of animals because it made the exercises easier to remember and by using wild animals, instead of domestic ones, he made the exercises sound exhilarating. All these movements help the Qi flow aJong the channels, strengthening the body and promoting vitality. They also balance the circulation and stimulate the internal organs.
The famous seventh-century BC philosopher Lao Zi advised people to relax their hearts (meaning their chests) and to firm their stomachs, by which he meant that they should concentrate their minds on the centre (Dantien, as mentioned above). And so these techniques continued to be used, with great effect, for hundreds of years. In the twentieth century, while Western medicine was relying heavily on new drugs, improved surgical techniques and so on, this ancient and proven method of healing was still highly valued in the East.
During the revolution of 1911, when China ceased to be ruled by emperors, Jiang Weigiao's Yin Shi Zi Sitting Still Exercises became very popular in Shanghai. Nor, to begin with, did .advent of Communism in 1949 affect the high regard in which Qigong was held. The first Qigong therapy clinic was established at Tangshan in Heibei Province in 1955, and another was set up two years later in Shanghai. That Qigong was taken seriously even in official quarters is evidenced by the fact that in 1959 the Ministry for PubIic Health held the First National Meeting for the Exchange of Qigong Experiences at Beidihe in Heibei Province; it was attended by some sixty-four groups from seventeen provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions from within a country as large as the USA.
Healing and wellbeing
Out in the moonlight, the weary peasants could wind down and relax. And it was then that they became aware of something moving around inside their bodies -something that felt a little like steam. This steam could move up or down, and in different places such as the legs or arms; it also seemed to be related to their breathing and to the mind. The people noted all these various feelings and eventually discovered that each person had a centre, just below the navel, which made the rest of the body warm and strong. They called this centre 'Dantien'.
With continued observation they found that the flow of the steam could make the body warm and was related to the spirit -spirit in the sense of a feeling of wellbeing rather than in the religious sense of the word. Gradually they discovered a network of channels crossing the body, linking the internal organs. Distributed along these channels were certain points which affected the way the steam flowed through the body. Thus energy (Qi) and the system of acupuncture points and channels were discovered, and people found that touching and massaging the points could heal a variety of problems.
Movement and breathing of various kinds to create heat were thus perceived as ways of healing physical ailments from very early times, long before the formulation of medicines. Throughout the centuries Chinese sages and philosophers have written of the beneficial effects of this treatment.
The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Internal Medicine, an ancient text of 722-721 BC which is known in Chinese as the Huangdi Neijing, contains the following passage: “People live in the centre [of China, along the Yellow River]. The area is damp, therefore suffering from tiredness, depression and hot and cold illness [similar to today's ME -myalgic encephalomyelitis or post-viral syndrome] is common. The curing method is Daoyin [breathing techniques] and Angiao [stretching].”
Even earlier than this, about four thousand years ago, the people of this region are known to have danced to rid themselves of damp and arthritis. Dancing made them hot, and the heat expelled the damp and poison from their veins and joints. The movements and breathing patterns of animals were also regarded as valuable examples to follow. In his book Chunway Chu, written around 600 BC and dealing with the subject of breathing,
Zhuang Zi said: 'Breathing techniques can improve metabolism; moving like a bear and a bird will result in longevity.' During the Three Kingdoms Period (from 280-220 BC), a famous Chinese doctor, Hwa Tou, created 'Five Animal Play'. He understood how wild animals lived and how they moved to maintain their bodies' balance and he saw how people, living under the system of society, had lost this natural ability. 'Five Animal Play' was designed to help people relearn this skill in order to cure illness and strengthen the body. Hwa Tou explained that when you raised your arms above your head, as if they were the horns of a deer, it stimulated the Qi circulation of the liver; when you stretched your arms out like a bird spreading its wings, it was good for the heart and relieving tension; rubbing and slapping yourself and moving like a monkey was good for the spleen; stretching your arms out in front of you while exhaling, like a tiger, was good for releasing the tension in the lungs; and bending forwards like the bear was good for the back and the kidneys. Hwa T ou used the names of animals because it made the exercises easier to remember and by using wild animals, instead of domestic ones, he made the exercises sound exhilarating. All these movements help the Qi flow aJong the channels, strengthening the body and promoting vitality. They also balance the circulation and stimulate the internal organs.
The famous seventh-century BC philosopher Lao Zi advised people to relax their hearts (meaning their chests) and to firm their stomachs, by which he meant that they should concentrate their minds on the centre (Dantien, as mentioned above). And so these techniques continued to be used, with great effect, for hundreds of years. In the twentieth century, while Western medicine was relying heavily on new drugs, improved surgical techniques and so on, this ancient and proven method of healing was still highly valued in the East.
During the revolution of 1911, when China ceased to be ruled by emperors, Jiang Weigiao's Yin Shi Zi Sitting Still Exercises became very popular in Shanghai. Nor, to begin with, did .advent of Communism in 1949 affect the high regard in which Qigong was held. The first Qigong therapy clinic was established at Tangshan in Heibei Province in 1955, and another was set up two years later in Shanghai. That Qigong was taken seriously even in official quarters is evidenced by the fact that in 1959 the Ministry for PubIic Health held the First National Meeting for the Exchange of Qigong Experiences at Beidihe in Heibei Province; it was attended by some sixty-four groups from seventeen provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions from within a country as large as the USA.
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